1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personalized safety devices for hand held weapons and more particularly pertains to a new personalized safety device for a hand held weapon for preventing unauthorized use of a hand held weapon having a trigger.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of personalized safety devices for hand held weapons is known in the prior art. More specifically, personalized safety devices for hand held weapons heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,179; U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,545; U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,819; U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,232; U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,633; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 375,342 which are all incorporated by reference herein.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new personalized safety device for a hand held weapon. The inventive device includes a housing which is coupled to a weapon such that the housing is positioned in front of the handgrip and trigger of the weapon. A pair of elongate guard plates outwardly extend from a pair of elongate slots in the back of the housing. A motor is disposed in the housing for extending and the retracting the guard plates from the housing. A computer is provided for controlling the retraction and extension of the guard plates by the motor. A scanner is mounted to the handgrip of the weapon and is in communication with the computer. The scanner obtains an image of the fingerprints and handprint of the user grasping the handgrip. If the scanned image matches data stored in the computer corresponding to the fingerprints and handprint of an authorized user, the computer activates the motor to retract the guard plates.
In these respects, the personalized safety device for a hand held weapon according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of preventing unauthorized use of a hand held weapon having a trigger.